Hey jareds, sorry for the lag for a couple days. I've been out skiing in socal on what is probably our only snow of the year. Anyway, you want to post some pics from your Peak Lake trip? From what I've heard from guides, my avy class, SMG's snow report, ESAC, friends, etc.... the south east sierra has very little snow and this is probably the worst year of the past 30 to do the trans sierra. I was hoping this series of storms would change everything, but it doesn't quite look like it got there. Thoughts? I'm thinking resources would be better spent elsewhere, like Shasta for example.

Wow that doesn't look to bad there on the west side. I gotta go with my gut here and the many east side reports and use my single week off for a Shasta trip. I hope it works out for you. Sounds like you have a good set of plans regardless... wife-approved sabbatical, nice.

ROL - very cool to see that 1978 TR. I've seen reports of very few Trans-sierra trips via Piute pass. You might enjoy these pics from my tour in 2011 from Huntington Lake to North Lake by a rather different route:

Hey @mchin your tr's are bookmarked, looks like your mac page is down - do these exist anywhere else? i think the sierra high route is the best report of that route i've seen.

if you want send me the files and i'll put it up on tumblr or something!

mchin wrote:The Sierra in winter is best seen by camping, IMO. Yes there are huts here, and they are a great way to see the mountains in winter. With the relatively mild conditions in the spring, I'd use a light weight tent/megamid and spend the night out. Alot of great tours go along the "Sierra Crest" This imaginary line starts somewhere around Yosemite and ends at Mt Whitney. Others, go across or "Trans-Sierra". Many good loops exist.

We had our trips and photos on Apple's mobile me and recently switched to iCloud. The URL's didn't make it and we haven't had the bandwidth to do anything about it. It's a problem as I have a backlog now of photos and with winter coming I'll likely have more trips to post.

You said you may have some expertise with this. I'd be interested in your ideas.

Want to start at Mammoth and come out at Tioga pass. Along the way hit Thousand Island Lake, Waugh Lake, Donohue Pass.

I'm guessing this is a fairly common route in the winter due to access and scenery.Planning for early April, have a group of 4, did the Teton Crest trail last spring and this looks similar. The group dynamic is less about laps and more about covering distance.

From what I can tell it looks like 5 days and possibly 4 if we're moving. What some good route options to extend this? Looking for another day or two. Was thinking of going around ritter, or maybe going over by lyell and coming out to tuolumne meadows from there.

A friend of mine Rich Henke (after whom the Henke Pass near Ritter is named), skied to the summit of Banner (and off it) some years ago while doing simmilar route to what you are proposing. How about bagging Banner and/or Lyell (or both) on skis? That would extend the trip and provide your party with something different?